I worked awhile on a post. I posted it and it never showed up. I finally realized it was on I had posted in August so all I did was change it not post it. Duh. I am posting it again with the changes.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  Romans 10:17 

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I’ve HEARD messages before and later realized I had no idea what was said or meant. Were they preaching about the Word of God? Yes. Did I understand what they said? Nope.

Faith coming by “hearing” isn’t just your physical ears hearing a minister preaching. It also means your spiritual ears. In the Bible, the “ear” is identical with the heart and mind as an organ of awareness, of learning (process of acquiring knowledge AND understanding).*  To hear AND understand.

Acquiring and growing or developing faith is a three-fold process. 

You must HEAR the Word preached.
You must READ the Word for yourself, with your own eyes.
Thirdly, you must SPEAK (confess) that Word so your own ears hear you. You need all three.

That doesn’t mean hearing about what’s going on in the world today. Nor hearing more about what the devil is doing rather that God. Nor hearing about someone’s opinion. It means hearing the uncompromised Word of God.

It doesn’t mean reading posts criticizing preachers. Nor reading books that don’t stick to the Bible. Read faith-based books from trusted Word people. 

And THIS is the big one:  For sure it doesn’t mean speaking contrary to what God says about something. It doesn’t mean speaking your opinion. Nor speaking negative words. Nor speaking critically about yourself and others. ONLY speak God’s words.

Joshua 1:8 (LITV), “This book of the Law (the Bible) shall not depart out of your mouth, and you shall meditate on it by day and by night, so that you shall be on guard to do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall prosper your way, and then you shall act wisely. 

To meditate means to think about it. To murmur (to yourself about what you read); to ponder (think about [something] carefully), imagine (that Word active in your life).

Listening to a podcast or CD over and over (until you get it) is also a form of meditation.

That’s how faith comes.

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*The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery